MURRAY HILL and NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J., April 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Linde North America will be the exclusive supplier of hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles at the Shell Eco-marathon in Houston, where more than 100 teams of college and high school students from across the Americas will bring their ultra energy efficient vehicles and see who can travel the farthest distance using the least amount of energy.

Shell Eco-marathon is one of the world's most challenging student innovation competitions that take place annually in Europe, Americas and Asia. Linde North America is a member of The Linde Group, a world leading gases and engineering company.

The Houston event will be held at Discovery Green Park and George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston April 25-27. Mike Beckman, vice president Hydrogen Fueling, said, "Shell chose Linde as its exclusive worldwide hydrogen supplier because it wanted a solid and technically capable global partner for all of its Eco-marathon events around the world." The first event of 2014 was held in Manila, Philippines, in February; Rotterdam, Netherlands, will be the site for the May event.

"The Shell Eco-marathon is a unique competition that challenges students to design, build and drive the world's most energy-efficient car," said Norman Koch, Technical Director Shell Eco-marathon. "We are very pleased to partner with Linde for the fourth consecutive year supporting these students to develop energy efficient mobility solutions for the future."

"Linde will be working with 8 teams whose vehicles will require hydrogen, and will be providing valuable technical support and advice to the student teams from North and South America," Beckman said. "While Linde hydrogen fueling systems involve very sophisticated technology, the filling operation is designed to be relatively simple. This simplicity is a critical aspect to the success of hydrogen as a fuel," Beckman said.

As the world's largest manufacturer of hydrogen plants, Linde covers the entire technology spectrum required to successfully use hydrogen as an energy carrier – from generation to refueling. Linde has equipped over 80 fuelling stations in 15 countries with innovative hydrogen refueling technology, supporting fuel cell cars, buses, forklifts and other uses.

Besides pushing the boundaries of fuel efficiency, Shell Eco-marathon is also an educational platform, giving innovators practical experience of developing smarter, sustainable transportation. "We're excited about the opportunity to work with this highly motivated and skilled group of future engineers that falls in line with our support for the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) initiative," Beckman said. "These young people are our future, and we're happy to support this effort." 

Linde will be hosting a booth at the event where representatives from Linde will be available to answer questions about hydrogen as an alternate energy, as well as discuss the various types of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that are currently in operation around the world, including buses, automobiles and fork lift trucks. 

In the 2013 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 16.655 bn (USD 23.1 bn), making it the largest gases and engineering company in the world with approximately 63,500 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development. For more information, visit www.lindeus.com

Under the "Clean Technology by Linde" label, the company offers a wide range of products and technologies that help to render renewable energy sources financially viable, and significantly slow down the depletion of fossil resources or reduce the level of CO₂ emitted. This ranges from specialty gases for solar module manufacturing, industrial-scale CO₂ separation and application technologies, to alternative fuels and energy carriers such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) and hydrogen.

For more information, see The Linde Group online at www.linde.com

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SOURCE Linde North America